


nothing ever is for sure

by BladedDarkness



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 20:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10647588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladedDarkness/pseuds/BladedDarkness
Summary: The first time Cat can’t read Kara, is, of course, the first time they meet.Supercat Week 3, Day 1: Abilities.





	nothing ever is for sure

The first time Cat can’t read Kara, is, of course, the first time they meet. This awkward, sunny girl is standing in front of her desk and hitting a few of Cat’s needs just a little too on the nose. 

 

Cat mentally tries to catalogue the not at all subtle display of power as Kara fiddles with her glasses: Life Lordship > Life Mastery > Biological Manipulation > Body Manipulation > Sense Manipulation > Vision Manipulation > Enhanced Vision > Electromagnetic Vision > X-Ray Vision. Of course, it can also go Universe Manipulation > Science Manipulation > Physics Manipulation > Fundamental Forces Manipulation > Kinetic Energy Manipulation > Electromagnetism Manipulation > Electromagnetic Spectrum Manipulation > Electromagnetic Vision > X-Ray Vision. Or any number of ways.

 

It’s always difficult to remember how the government ties the categories together for each specific power. The hierarchy of one branch is just bad enough. Going into the web connecting each power is a headache Cat can rarely afford, but she’s intrigued enough by Kara to attempt it. She justifies it to herself - she can’t trust someone close to her when she’s not aware of what they can do, and asking is just downright rude. Kara may have X-ray Vision, but which way up the scale does she fall? It may not be her only power, but a subset, and knowing whether Kara can manipulate her body or the rules of electromagnetism is important.

 

Of course, Cat’s own power makes knowing the exact taxonomic variations of someone’s powers rather a moot point. Usually, she knows exactly what a person can and can’t do. Except, Cat can’t read Kara.

 

“Fetch me a latte,” she snaps, too off-balance to deal with Kara’s presence.

 

Cat takes a deep breath as Kara rushes out in a blonde and pastel whirlwind. If Cat can’t read Kara, then that means that Kara is - she’s Cat’s - Cat can hardly even think it.

 

The thought lasts for half a minute before Cat remembers that Kara’s power wasn’t inhibited at all around Cat, and the realization closes like a fist around her heart.

 

\-----

 

Her mother had told her that being on Earth would give her unimaginable powers. Kara had accepted that. They would be necessary to protect Kal-El, most likely.

 

She didn’t mention that each human had abilities as well.

 

Kara doesn’t find this out until she rescues a woman and child from a car, and Alex barely flinches as a car door knocks her skidding across the road.

 

“You pick a power and stick with it as your ability, Kara,” Eliza urges. “Something that isn’t flashy, or invasive, or noticeable, and that people are comfortable with. And not the same one as Clark.”

 

“And you,” Eliza growls, whirring on Alex as Jeremiah brings them back from the hospital. “You know better, Alexandra. What have we told you?”

 

Alex sighs. “Pain is a natural part of life and lets us know that something is wrong, so that we can remove ourselves from a situation or seek treatment before more damage is done,” she recites dutifully.

 

“And?” Jeremiah prompts.

 

“And I’m not to walk around with my Pain Suppression activated at all times,” Alex grinds out, barely not rolling her eyes, adjusting her sling.

 

“We’ll talk more about your ribs later,” adds Jeremiah as he hands Alex the painkillers and she stomps off, heading upstairs.

 

Kara frowns. The car door had hit Alex’s arm and not her… oh. She curls up even further on the couch.

 

Alex isn’t more durable than Eliza and Jeremiah. And Kara isn’t getting better at controlling herself.

\-----

 

If one asked Cat’s competitors what her power was, they’d probably give a trite answer like ‘ruthlessness’ or ‘bitchiness.’ 

 

In truth, few if any knew what Cat’s ability was. Suspected, certainly, but they were usually off the mark even then. She’s lost count of how many lawsuits against her have been dismissed because they’d been based around her abusing a specific ability that she didn’t even have.

 

She still remembers her mother clucking her tongue when she’d taken her to the testing facility when Cat was five.

 

“She can get that with proper training,” her mother had said later that night to her father, and Cat had overheard. “What good is that?”

 

“But now she won’t have to,” replied her father, and she had watched through the door as a gentle smile creased his face, save for where the skin pulled painfully over his cheek, puckered and pink even after all this time. “She’ll know instantly who They are. There won’t be mistakes.”

 

Katherine scoffs. “How long will you hold my Inflammation against me?”

 

“There was no reason to test it. We were already married. What happiness has knowing we were wrong given us?”

 

“If you were stronger - ”

 

“But I’m not,” her father interjects. “I’ve always been Basic level. Just normal Healing, accelerated. And you knew that.” He pulls her stiff form closer. “What bothers you most is being proven wrong.”

 

Cat waits for her mother to correct him, but she remains silent.

 

\-----

 

Kara picks Ice Breath. She’s just terrible enough at it to not easily overpower it when she needs to show it off, rare as it is. (She uses it a total of once in public, actually, during a mandatory evaluation in the last month of high school to make sure she’s emotionally stable and in control of herself.) And asking what a person’s ability is broaches polite societal rules. The government doesn’t technically register powers, after all, but it’s on medical and census records.

 

Clark chose Invulnerability.

 

Kara curses his choice when CatCo is under attack by disgruntled employee Leslie Willis and she has to resist the urge to shield Cat.

 

\-----

 

_...Body Manipulation  > Enhanced Condition > Enhanced Instincts > Enhanced Awareness > Instinctive Relative Sense,  _ Cat recites to herself as she ducks behind another desk.

 

The coping mechanism her father had taught her. Recite the hierarchy of her ability and focus on what Cat can do instead of what is outside of her control.

 

Leslie is warping around the room through the outlets, making detestable puns in that taunting voice of hers that fans adore.

 

It should hardly matter. Cat’s Sense is just as good as X-ray Vision at detecting people.

 

Damn Kara keeps sneaking up on her, though, and her presence mutes Cat’s ability.

 

“Go,” she urges Kara, both for her safety and to remove the dampening she provides, relieved when Kara flees into the stairwell.

 

With Kara away, Cat can sense Leslie, can tag and place every point that Leslie can attack from, every angle. The ability that made her such a great investigative reporter and savvy businesswoman lets her predict the path Leslie will take to her position, and identify what will help her bring Leslie down, and Cat steps out into the perfect spot, already tensing to dodge and incapacitate Leslie further when her electricity hits the sprinklers -

 

Her power flutters suddenly as Supergirl crashes through the window and takes the bolt instead and Cat growls as things slot into place.

 

\-----

 

“So,” Cat starts, and Kara tries not to fidget as the tone registers. It’s the one Miss Grant uses before ruthlessly scooping up a new acquisition. “Flight and X-Ray Vision, Kiera? Should I expect the full range of powers?”

 

“I-I don’t have those, Miss Grant,” Kara titters, setting Cat’s latte down quickly and pulling her tablet closer protectively.

 

Cat scoffs. “I had the opportunity once, off the record, to ask Superman a question. I asked him what he lost when he was around Lois Lane. Do you know what he said?”

 

Kara swallows. “I’m not sure you should tell me, Miss Grant.”

 

“ ‘My family,’ he said,” Cat continues as if Kara hadn’t spoken at all. “ ‘I had to send away the last of my people, someone very dear to me, and I regret that I could not explain it better.’”

 

“I’m sure he had his reasons,” whispers Kara misty-eyed, remembering all too clearly the loud crack of Lois’s arm when she had pulled away from the woman too quickly. Clark had quickly bundled her away to the Danvers, clear across the country from Lois.

 

Only recently did Lucy drunkenly tell Kara of the months their father prowled around Clark’s shared apartment with Lois, desperate to catch the farm boy in a domestic dispute.

 

“So I was only partially surprised when Supergirl showed herself in National City, you see,” Cat says, taking another sip of her drink. “But do you know what truly surprised me? How both Supergirl and yourself have the same curious effect on my ability.”

 

Kara rears back, stunned. Cat never talks about her ability. Kara knows she must have one, of course, but it never  _ ever _ comes up. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, Miss Grant.”

 

“I could have written it off as a Kryptonian peculiarity, had I not been around Superman before.” Cat sets the drink down and makes her way in front of her desk. “But only you, Kara, dampen my ability. So, now I have a question for you.”

 

Her feet are frozen to the floor as if stuck there by Ice Breath. Kara opens her mouth and a croak leaps out, and she shuts her mouth again.

 

“What do you lose when you are around me, Kara?” It terrifies Cat to ask, completely blind to Kara without her ability. But Kara has given her hope, inspiration, and Cat pushes her bravery to this new endeavor. “And what have you gained?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, hello, I accidentally found another storyline I have too little time to fully explore at this point. Except this meager offering that barely scratches the surface of what my brain wants to conjure.


End file.
